Door-controlling means.



H. G. VOIGHT.

DOOR GONTROLLING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 17, 1913.

Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

H mi- TTED srnrrpns PATENT oFFI HENRY G. VOIGHT, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

DOOR-CONTROLLING MEANS.

Application filed April 17, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, HENRY G. VoIeH'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, Hartford county, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful lmprovementsin Door-Controlling Means, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to means for controlling sliding doors and particularly doors entering upon elevator wells, and is particularly concerned with the construction of lever connection between the sliding door and a stationary abutment, such as the well casing, whereby these lovers are maintained in the same relative ver'tical plane and are prevented from sagging outwardly from the door into the path of the elevator car. Such sagging is liable to occur with levers as at present constructed unless some guiding and retaining means is provided to prevent it. In my prior Patent No. 1,0ll,70l, dated October 15th, 1912, l have shown a guide strap carried by the door and cooperating with the toggle levers to retain them in the same vertical plane and against sagging.

The present invention aims to construct the levers themselves to prevent this sagging and is described in detail in the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof and illustrating a preferable embodiment of the invention.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is a View in side elevation of a door controlling mechanism employing two pivotally interconnected toggle levers to which the guiding means of my present invention has been applied. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation of the pivotally interconnected ends of these levers in raised or door-opened position. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the lever ends in lowered or door-closed position. Fig. i is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 1 indicates the casing of an elevator well and 2 a sliding door appropriately mounted therein.

3 designates a bracket suitably secured to some abutment stationary relative to the sliding door, such as the casing 1, and 4 designates a power closing mechanism pivotally carried by the bracket 3.

5 and 6 designate pivotally interconnected levers forming a toggle, the end of lever 5 being pivotally mounted on the bracket 3 and being provided adjacent its pivoted end Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

Serial No. 761,760.

with a transverse arm 7 appropriately connected, as by a piston 8, with the power cylinder 4. The end of the lever arm (5 is in turn pivotally connected to the sliding door 2 as adjacent its edge, as shown.

9 indicates a controlling handle carried by the door and cooperating with the toggle lever 5.

The mechanism so far described is shown as exemplifying a construction employing door controlling levers to which the invention of the present application may be applied. The construction of this mechanism, aside from its specific guiding features to be hereinafter described, forms no part of the present invention, and is fully shown and described in my prior Patent No. 1,028,833, dated June ltll, 1912. Suliice it to say that the operating handle 9 cooperates with the toggle lever 5 to lock the door closed and is arranged to be moved relatively to the door and to the lever to unlock the door and to move the toggle in door opening direction, the power of the closer cylinder l serving to return the door to closed position when the handle 9 is released One of the toggle levers, as 6, is preferably formed of spaced bars 6*, the second of these levers 5 having a single bar which is inclosed between the two bars of the first lever 6. These levers are made from fiat bar stock by simply cutting the stock to length. In order to provide means whereby these arms may guide themselves and be retained against movement out of the same vertical plane, which means 'will not involve any costly operation changing the shape of these stock-cut toggle levers, I have provided the following structure: The ends of the bars 6 are pivoted to the bar 5 at a point sulficiently far from the end of said bars to have them extend beyond the far longitudinal edge of bar 5. This pivoting is accomplished by means preferably of a tubular stud 10 carried by the bar 5 adjacent its end and journaling in alined apertures formed in the bars 6. The end of bar 5 is reduced in thickness and cut away to form a transversely extending shoulder 11. This reduced end of the bar 5 will extend, of course, in between the spaced bar 6 beyond the point of pivotal connection. To this reduced end is attached a transversely ext-ending guiding fin 12 having a lip 13 corresponding in shape to the reduced end of the bar 5 and in thickness to the depth of the shoulder 11, this lip being reduced in thickness relative to the body of the fin 12 so that said lip 13 may be superposed upon and overlap the reduced end 11 of bar 5 and may be securely riveted thereto. This will provide a transversely ofiset end for the bar 5 whose faces lie in the same plane with said bar and in planes parallel with and closely adjacent the opposing faces of the bars 6 By this construction I am enabled to use the ordinary form of strip or bar steel for making toggle levers, merely cutting this bar to provide levers of the proper length and punching the holes in these bars for the pivot stud. Then by milling the end of the bar 5 to produce the reduced and shouldered end, and by milling the lip portion 13 of the guide fin 12, these two parts may be overlapped and riveted together to form a rigidly connected structure and provide a means for guiding and bracing the toggle levers one upon the other when the same move either up or down. This bracing action, it will be observed, is secured because of the fact that the overlapping ends of the levers lie in parallel and closely adjacent planes. The guide fin 12 is extended transversely in both directions so that a portion of the fin will overlap the far longitudinal edge of lever 6 whether the levers are collapsed in door-opened position or are extended in door opened position, and also whether the toggle is moved upwardly or downwardly or is used with right or left hand doors. It will also be obvious that whatever the relative position of the pivotally interconnected lever ends, the opposing faces of the ends of these levers will overlap each other at points substantially beyond the point of pivotal interconnection and thereby brace each other against sagging out of the vertical plane. IVith the levers extended (Fig. 1) and with the door in closed position, the elevator car is more likely to strike the pivotally connected ends of the levers if they sag outwardly. It will be noted that when in this position there is a double brace as the end of each lever braces the other at points on opposite sides of the connecting pivot.

It will, of course, be understood that while I have shown and described a specific construction of guiding means, changes in the structure thereof and in the relative arrangement of parts may be made within the spirit of the invention.

The specific structure described is one which is very desirable from the standpoint of manufacturing economy, and which is also a very effective one to attain the ends desired.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a device of the character described,

two pivotally interconnected swinging arms, and guiding means for said arms carried by the pivoted end of each arm and arranged to overlap when said arms are partially folded upon each other.

2. In a device of the character described, two pivotally interconnected swinging arms, each arm having its pivotally connected end extending across and beyond the far longitudinal edge of the opposite arm when said arms are relatively inclined, said end extensions being arranged to overlap and lie in adjacent parallel planes when said arms are partially folded upon each other.

3. In a device of the character described, two pivotally interconnected swinging arms, one of said arms being provided with a portion adapted to extend across and beyond the far longitudinal edge of the other arm when said arms are relatively inclined, said portion being provided with a guide extending transversely therefrom and overlapping and lying in a plane parallel with and adjacent the opposing face of said other arm when said arms are relatively inclined.

4. In a device of the character described, two pivotally interconnected swinging arms, each of said arms being adapted to extend across and beyond the far longitudinal edge of the other arm when said arms are relatively inclined, one of said extensions being provided at its end with a guiding fin extending transversely therefrom in opposite directions and lying in a plane parallel with and adjacent the opposing face of the other arm.

5. In a device of the character described, two pivotally interconnected swinging arms, one of said arms being bifurcated and the other of said arms being pivoted between the bifurcations of said first arm, and guiding means carried by the pivoted end of one arm adapted to extend across the other arm and beyond the far longitudinal edge thereof when said arms are relatively inclined and adapted to overlap and lie in a plane adjacent the face of said other arm.

6. In a device of the character described, two pivotally interconnected swinging arms, one of said arms being bifurcated and the other of said arms being pivoted between the bifurcations of said first arm, one of said arms being provided adjacent its end with a transversely extending guide overlapping and lying in a plane adjacent the opposing face of said other arm when said arms are relatively inclined.

HENRY G. VOIGI-IT.

Witnesses Gwnnnonnvn A. JACKSON, CHAS. E. RossnLL;

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

